News Article : ‘Green Chemistry’ award winner to speak at Michigan State’s Holland facility

1/21/2010

Contact: Kathy Walsh: (517) 432‐4499, walshka@msu.edu
Published: Jan. 21, 2010

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Robert C. Maleczka, professor of Chemistry at Michigan State University and a winner of the 2008 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will speak at the MSU Bioeconomy Institute in Holland, Mich., on Wed., Jan. 27 at 4:00 pm. The talk, entitled “Toward Green Cross‐Coupling Reactions,” is part of the MSU Bioeconomy Institute’s 2010 speaker series, Experts Exchange: Opportunities in Bio‐Innovation. Maleczka received the award for his work on a new, environmentally friendly method for making complex compounds. His discovery streamlines the manufacturing of chemical building blocks, eliminates the need for environment‐threatening starting materials and significantly reduces the amounts of hazardous waste formerly associated with this process. See http://www2.chemistry.msu.edu/Faculty/Maleczka/index.html
 

The next events in the series will also be at 4:00 pm at the MSU Bioeconomy Institute:
 

Wed., Feb. 3 – Kris Berglund, Michigan State University Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering and Forestry; Berglund's research has generated new companies in Michigan (in Scottville and Webberville), Sweden and France. See http://special.news.msu.edu/sweden/partnership.php or http://news.msu.edu/story/5614/&keyword_search=berglund&keyword_action=all_words

Wed., Feb. 17 – Moses Lee, dean of Natural and Applied Sciences Division and professor of Chemistry, Hope College, Holland, Mich., is a bioorganic and medicinal chemist, who designs and develops novel analogs of distamycin, CC‐1065, and combretastatin A4 that have potential application as anticancer and gene control agents. See http://www.hope.edu/academic/chemistry/faculty/lee/about.html The Experts Exchange: Opportunities in Bio‐Innovation speaker series is free, accessible and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Please call (517) 432‐4499 to request accommodation. MAP
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The MSU Bioeconomy Institute, located at 242 Howard Ave., Holland, Mich., opened in spring 2009 in a research and development building and pilot plant donated by Pfizer Inc. The 138,000-square-foot facility complements and extends campus research that supports the state’s emerging bioeconomy, including biomaterials, biofuels and bio-based chemicals. Michigan State University has been advancing knowledge and transforming lives through innovative teaching, research and outreach for more than 150 years. MSU is known internationally as a major public university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Its 17 degree-granting colleges attract scholars worldwide who are interested in combining education with practical problem solving. http://www.msu.edu/